When facing Kirlia's Teleport, Sabrina could always sense the landing position in an extremely short time, and then command Haunter to dodge and counterattack just as quickly!
What Terrance wanted to see was the pattern behind those dodge and counterattack commands!
After a few attempts, Terrance finally discovered that Sabrina's different commands depended on Kirlia's Teleport landing position!
If Kirlia teleported close to Haunter, she would have Haunter dodge first, then attack. If Kirlia Teleported farther away, she'd command Haunter to attack directly. These commands showed that Sabrina was clearly very confident in her own psychic power, believing her commands would never be wrong. After all, daring to anticipate an opponent's Teleport position, even Top Trainers rarely have that kind of nerve.
In Terrance's eyes, this was undoubtedly playing with fire; a single misjudgment, and Sabrina would lose.
However, up until now, Sabrina had never made a mistake in her judgment. Even when Kirlia teleported extremely close to Haunter and used Magical Leaf to slash, Haunter could still neutralize it and the shield remained unbroken.
Substituting Magical Leaf for a physical slash was Terrance's way of simulating Gallade's fighting style in advance, to observe how Sabrina would react. In Terrance's opinion, defeating this Haunter, which hadn't been well-trained, wasn't hard. But if Sabrina sent out a well-trained Psychic Type Pokémon, then things would be much less certain.
"So if it's Gallade's Teleport-Slash, she's very likely to anticipate and dodge it," Terrance murmured to himself.
He couldn't gamble on her failing to dodge!
Even though Haunter's evasion speed couldn't escape Gallade's attack, who knew how strong Sabrina's next Pokémon might be, or how powerful a Confusion shield it might be given?
Compared to Kirlia's fighting style, Gallade's style was straightforward with little variation, focused on one-hit KOs. If Sabrina, a master of psychic power, saw through that fighting style, Terrance would be in a bad position.
So Terrance had to use this round to figure out Sabrina's command style, so he could decide on the next round's strategy and achieve a one-hit KO, leaving her no chance to adapt!
Haunter, Night Shade!
At the same time, on the battlefield, Haunter turned into a massive shadow. Sabrina ultimately decided to attack the clones. She had come up with a new technique. The Confusion shield was like a flexible suit, wrapping around the entire shadow, looking bizarre.
But seeing this, Terrance remained unfazed. The three Double Team clones still charged forward, suicide-style, and hurled Shadow Balls at close range.
This made their aim more accurate. When the shadow devoured the three clones, the three Shadow Balls easily struck the target, but still couldn't break the Confusion shield. Sabrina once again reinforced the shield, returning it to peak condition.
But at this moment, Sabrina's expression froze. She had been dividing her attention to sense the location of Kirlia's main body. Even if Kirlia ambushed her, her Night Shade barrier could still transform and defend. But…just now, for a split second, she couldn't sense Kirlia. Although it was very brief, it truly made Sabrina lose focus for a moment. Just that gap was enough to decide the outcome of the battle.
When Kirlia appeared behind Haunter, Sabrina locked onto Kirlia again, but it was already too late. Sabrina had been hoping that even if Kirlia ambushed, it wouldn't be able to break the shield in one blow and instantly knock out Haunter. But this time, she misjudged. This time, Kirlia unleashed an incredibly powerful force, almost instantly shattering the shield, and then an enormous Confusion surged toward Haunter, swallowing it up.
"This is…" Mr. Sam stared blankly at Haunter, who had fallen to the ground and fainted.
"Synchronoise move?" Using Synchronoise to disrupt Sabrina's judgment for an instant, and then leveraging the nature of Synchronoise to inflict massive damage on the Confusion shield. This was an effective move to counter Sabrina. Perfect!
"So it can even use that move." He clicked his tongue in amazement.
At the same time, Sabrina also sensed the energy of Synchronoise. Looking at the unconscious Haunter, she fell silent for a moment, then took out a Poké Ball and recalled Haunter.
"Among the challengers of Saffron Gym, you are the strongest I have ever seen," Sabrina said slowly.
"I'm not a challenger," Terrance thought helplessly. He wasn't on the same level as those people, but from Sabrina's perspective, such a comparison was understandable.
The battle ended, and Terrance also recalled Kirlia. In that fight, it hadn't been battling Haunter, but Sabrina herself. After the battle, although Kirlia wasn't badly injured, it was already very tired, and Terrance had no intention of letting it take part in the next match.
Seeing Terrance recall Kirlia, neither Sabrina nor Mr. Sam was surprised. Both could also sense that Kirlia had expended a great deal of energy. At this moment, Sabrina had already noticed that something felt off, but as someone in the thick of things, caught up in the high-tempo battle, she couldn't spare the attention to think too much. Moreover, her confidence in her next Pokémon made her push all other concerns to the back of her mind.
This was a humanoid Pokémon with yellow, two-legged feet. It had a long mustache and rather long, pointed ears. Its chest and shoulders looked as if they were wrapped in brown armor, and its wrists bore two brown objects resembling bracers. Its three-fingered hands each held a spoon, giving it an extremely sinister appearance!
Psychic-type, Alakazam.
"So it really is Alakazam." Seeing the Pokémon Sabrina sent out next, Terrance also threw his Poké Ball, and Gallade appeared on the field. When Sabrina saw Gallade, she clearly froze for a moment; she could distinctly sense that Gallade had not developed along the path of psychic power.
At the same time, Gallade also recognized Sabrina. The psychic who had once helped it evolve.
"Next, I'll go all out."
As Sabrina finished speaking, the crystalline gems on the strange devices strapped to her wrists and waist—resembling bracers and a belt—suddenly radiated an intense light, as if resonating with Sabrina's psychic power, transforming into a brilliant glow that enveloped Alakazam.
At that moment, Terrance realized that Alakazam's aura had become significantly stronger. Its psychic power now seemed like a vast, boundless ocean, far more terrifying than Kirlia's.
Fixing his gaze on the strange devices on Sabrina's body, Terrance didn't recognize them, but he could guess that they were items she had prepared to enhance Psychic-type Pokémon.
Were these made by Sabrina herself?
Terrance didn't know, but he wasn't worried. Looking at the greatly empowered Alakazam, he smiled calmly and said, "That certainly surprised me, but I'll be going all out as well, Miss Sabrina. Have you heard of the ancient legend passed down in the Kalos region?"
"About… Mega Evolution."
As Terrance finished speaking, he pulled out his Key Stone, and Gallade extended its arm, revealing the Mega Stone bound to it. In the next instant, under the astonished gazes of Sabrina and Mr. Sam, Terrance repeated the same enhancement process as Sabrina, but the changes that occurred on Gallade were clearly far greater!!
Mega Gallade had arrived!
White blades, with crimson edges.
A pure white body, and a white cape fluttering in the wind!
As Gallade completed its Mega Evolution, it spread its blade arms, standing calmly. At this moment, Alakazam sensed an intense threat!!
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